This is a day of great joy, not only for Jason and Pelagia, and John and Mary,
but also for our entire community. We have in our midst a newly chosen warrior of
Christ, the newly illumined child Sven. Sven is a Nordic form of "Stephen", and
the lad's patron and protector is St Stephen the Protodeacon and first Martyr.
May God grant that he would have the purity, and tenacity and courage of his
protector and intercessor before the throne of God.

Baptism is the beginning. Baptism is the beginning of a new life, of an
enriched life, of life the way God intended our life to be. It begins sometimes
with a little bit of pain, a little bit of tears, a little bit of crying. I have
noticed that infants generally cry during the chrismation. They don't have time
to cry in the water. They cry a few tears after, but those tears dry, and the
water from the baptism dries, and the chrism is absorbed into the skin, but the
Holy Spirit remains, and makes His abode in the child. The Holy Spirit will never
leave, if we live as God intended us to live.

I admonish both you who are the parents, Jason and Pelagia, and also you who
have taken on the weighty task of being the Godparents, John and Mary: you must
keep a careful watch over this child now. In so doing, you must first keep a
careful watch over yourselves, because it is an immutable spiritual principle
that you cannot impart to your child purity and righteousness if you do not
experience it yourselves. A child is pure, but can easily learn impurity. We
adults know too well about evil in the world, and we would like to save our
children
from it as much as we can. We must do this through prayer, and dedication to
their welfare and benefit. I tell you, it is absolutely necessary that Sven, and
all children, grow up in a spirit of piety. You are the principle people that God
has called upon to pray for this spirit of piety to be inculcated in Sven, and to
live in this spirit, as an example to him.

Sponsors, you are required by God, and all the angels and Saints and our
community have seen you make a commitment, to remember this child, Sven, in your
prayers. Of course, Jason and Pelagia must also remember their children before
God, and care for them; this is a requirement of them as well. I also tell you,
our community, it is a requirement that we pray for one another. You sin if you
do not pray for your family in the church.

Sven needs many things to grow. What do children need? They need food, care,
supervision, discipline. Sometime they need admonishment and even punishment.
They also need the example of their parents. The food is the body of Christ, the
Holy Eucharist, and also, all the things that happen in the life in the church,
the prayers, the fasting, our God-inspired services and festal days, and
everything else. Children have an innate sense of the holy. I have observed this
now for about 18 years, and I tell you, children recognize what is holy, and they
are
easily attracted to it, but only when they are very young. They do not understand
holiness in an intellectual way, but they react to what is holy, and love what is
holy. We parents must present them all the time with holiness, and a holy purpose
for their lives.

We must expose them to holiness in coming to the services regularly. It is an
absolute necessity that they be brought to the church every week, and be taught
to commune the Holy Mysteries with joy and reverence. They should also be brought
to the church for the evening services and festal days, so they do not develop a
false view that "church is on Sundays". They must also constantly and
consistently experience prayer in the house. All of this is critically important,
and will grow out of the way we think, and the way we live, and what our purpose
in life is.

Every parent wants his child to be happy, to be blessed, to have a fulfilled
life. Every parent, whether they are Christian or not, wants these things for
their children. Our parent, our Father who is in heaven, also wishes what is best
for us. He has presented us with all that is needful to obtain the best. We as
natural parents, and as Godparents, must give our children also what is needful
for them to grow. We must give them piety, love, steadfastness in the faith,
purpose. The purpose of our life, and that of our children, is very simple. It is
to save our souls, and to know Christ intimately. This is the destiny for all of
us, if we choose it.

Now, for Sven, we have made this beginning for him. He is a child, and
according to the teaching of the church, children must be exposed to the grace of
baptism as soon as possible. Now, it is the responsibility of Jason and Pelagia
particularly, and also John and Mary, as the "second tier" as it were, to raise
Sven in, as the scriptures say, "the fear and admonition of the Lord." This is a
terrible responsibility, but is also a great and wonderful privilege. You have
the opportunity to see a child grow up to completion in Christ. This is what
every parent should dream of. We should also "dream" this for ourselves.

I tell you, the same things that are necessary for Sven are those things that
we need. As you heard some of these prayers in the baptism, you should have
thought and reflected on yourown life. You should have asked yourself, "Am I
doing the things that these prayers speak of?" The prayers speak of great and
mighty things. The priest invokes the name of God in a mighty way. Do we live as
children of a great and mighty God, of a King, and we as His servants, or do we
live outside of the understanding of Who He is?

We must have the fear of God in our hearts. This is not to be afraid that He
is going to send us to Hell. That is not what the fear of God is. The fear of God
is the knowledge of Who He is, and because of the knowledge of Who He is, the
great and ardent desire to become changed. May it be so that little Sven will
become truly changed. He has started in the right way. Now, his life is to be
lived, and to glorify God, and to know Him. I rejoice for you, Jason and Pelagia,
and John and Mary, for a newly chosen warrior has been born.

Now, I tell you, you have your work cut out for you. Pray for him. Pray for
yourselves, and feed yourselves with a pious purpose and way of life, so that you
can feed him.

May it be that all of us, gathered together here this morning, will be in the
Heavenly Kingdom, in the last day.

Amen.

Concerning Baptism in the Holy Scriptures

(John 3:5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God.

(Acts 8:36-38) And as they went on their way, they came
unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder
me to be baptized? {37} And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart,
thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God. {38} And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both
into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

(Acts 22:16) And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be
baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

(Rom 6:3-4) Know ye not, that so many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? {4} Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life.

(1 Cor 12:13) For by one Spirit are we all baptized
into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and
have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

(Gal 3:27) For as many of you as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ.

(Eph 4:4-6) There is one body, and one Spirit, even as
ye are called in one hope of your calling; {5} One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
{6} One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you
all.

(Titus 3:4-7) But after that the kindness and love of
God our Savior toward man appeared, {5} Not by works of righteousness which we
have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; {6} Which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior; {7} That being justified by his grace, we should
be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Concerning Baptism in the Holy Fathers

Baptism does not take away our free will or freedom of choice, but gives us
the freedom no longer to be tyrannized by the devil unless we choose to be. After
baptism it is in our power either to persist willingly in the practice of the
commandments of Christ, into Whom we were baptized, and to advance in the path of
His ordinances, or to deviate from this straight way and to fall again into the
hands of our enemy, the devil.

St Symeon the New Theologian

Whoever after baptism deliberately submits to the will of the devil and
carries out his wishes, estranges himself - to adapt John's words - from the holy
womb of baptism (cf. Ps. 58:3). None of us can be
estranged or alienated from the nature with which we are created. We are created
good by God - for God creates nothing evil - and we remain unchanging in our
nature and essence as created. But we do what we choose and want, whether good or
bad, of our own free will. Just as a knife does not change its nature, but
remains iron whether used for good or for evil, so we, as has been said, act and
do what we want without departing from our own nature.

St Symeon the New Theologian

Are we only dying with the Master and are we only sharing in His sadness? Most
of all, let me say that sharing the Master's death is no sadness. Only wait a
little and you shall see yourself sharing in His benefits. 'For if we have died
with Him,' says St. Paul, `we believe that we shall also live together with Him.'
For in baptism there are both burial and resurrection together at the same time.
He who is baptized puts off the old man, takes the new and rises up, `just as
Christ has arisen through the glory of the Father.' Do you see how, again, St.
Paul calls baptism a resurrection?

St. John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions

The gift which we have received from Jesus Christ in holy baptism is not
destroyed, but is only buried as a treasure in the ground. And both common sense
and gratitude demand that we should take good care to unearth this treasure and
bring it to light. This can be done in two ways. The gift of baptism is revealed
first of all by a painstaking fulfillment of the commandments; the more we carry
these out, the more clearly the gift shines upon us in its true splendor and
brilliance. Secondly, it comes to light and is revealed through the continual
invocation of the Lord Jesus, or by unceasing remembrance of God, which is one
and the same thing.

St. Gregory of Sinai in The Art of Prayer.

Do not despair of whatever sins you may have committed since baptism and find
yourself in true repentance, but await God's mercy. However many and however
great and burdensome your sins may be, with God there is greater mercy. Just as
His majesty is, so likewise is His mercy. Only guard yourself from sinning
henceforth, and walk according to the aforementioned points.

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, Journey to Heaven

Holy Communion causes great progress in the life according to Christ. For what
the external accidents of bread and wine effect in the body, the same is effected
in the immaterial soul mystically and invisibly by the Body of Christ. And just
as bread sustains and nourishes the body, so the Body of Christ sustains and
nourishes our soul; and again, just as we are regenerated through Holy Baptism
and receive the being of grace, in place of the being of sin which we had, so, as
we are nourished by Holy Communion, we grow in the grace of God and make
progress.

St. Macarios of Corinth, Modern Orthodox Saints, V. 2

Not only is it wonderful that He forgives us our sins, but also that He
neither uncovers them nor does He make them stand forth clearly revealed. Nor
does He force us to come forward and publicly proclaim our misdeeds, but He bids
us to make our defense to Him alone and to confess our sins to Him. And yet, if
any judge of a worldly tribunal were to tell some captured highwayman or grave
robber to confess his crime and be excused from paying the penalty, this prisoner
would with all alacrity admit the truth and scorn the disgrace in his desire to
go free. But this is not the case in baptism. God forgives our sins and does not
force us to make a parade of them in the presence of others. He seeks one thing
only: that he who benefits by the forgiveness may learn the greatness of the
gift.

St. John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions

In the sacred Mysteries, then, we depict His burial and proclaim His death. By
them we are begotten and formed and wondrously united to the Savior, for they are
the means by which, as St. Paul says, "in Him we live, and move, and have our
being" (Acts 17:28). Baptism confers being and, in short,
existence according to Christ. It receives us when we are dead and corrupted and
first leads us into life. The anointing with chrism perfects him who has received
[new] birth by infusing into him the energy that befits such a life. The Holy
Eucharist preserves and continues this life and health, since the Bread of life
enables us to preserve that which has been acquired and to continue in life. It
is therefore by this Bread that we live and by the chrism that we are moved, once
we have received being from the baptismal washing. In this way we live in
God.
St. Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ.

In regard to Baptism—baptize thus: After the foregoing instructions,
baptize in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in
living water. If you have no living water, then baptize in other water; and if
you are not able in cold, then in warm. If you have neither, pour three times on
the head, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Before the Baptism, let the one baptizing and the one to be baptized fast, as
also any others who are able. Command the one who is to be baptized to fast
beforehand for one or two days.(The Didache, The Teaching Of The Twelve Apostles)

Without the power of the Spirit which our Lord gave us in Baptism for the
fulfilling of His commandments, the which is confirmed in us each day by the
taking of His Body and Blood, we cannot be purified from the passions, and we
cannot vanquish demons, and we cannot perform the works of spiritual
excellence.(Paradise of the Fathers)